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Andrews County Library Outreach Plan

Submitted by eaa0062 on Wed, 04/20/2011 - 10:42am

Introduction

Andrews County is located in west Texas. The Andrews County Library serves the whole county and is located in the city of Andrews. The nearest city of over 50,000 is Odessa, located 30 miles south of Andrews. The primary industries are oil and waste disposal. The governing agencies in the county and the city have a progressive outlook and have planned well to diversify the economic base of the county and city. This has helped ensure a consistent level of funding and support for the library.

Historical, Current, and Future Roles of the Library
Historically the library has played the following roles in the community: life-long learning, basic literacy, free and equal access to information, educational and recreational materials, formal education support, information assistance, adult learning, current topics and titles, and gateway to information. The library currently plays those roles in addition to: community meeting place, technology center, English as a Second Language, local history and genealogy, information literacy, public computer access, career workforce development, and early childhood literacy. In the future the library would also like to: be a community commons, heritage center, and a place for tutoring for school aged children.

Identified Needs
The following were identified as community needs: an employment assistance office in town, rental properties for all income levels, and bi-lingual speakers to assist the large number of residents who do not speak English.

Identified Assets
The following were identified as community assets: a number of civic organizations in town, plenty of housing for purchase, good parks system, well maintained municipal golf course, reasonable cost of living, highly rated independent school district, well supported local sports teams, Andrews Business and Technology Center (classes from the Odessa Community College, University of the Permian Basin, and others), the Andrews County Library, and the Ace Arena for indoor rodeo and other events.

Thank You Statement
The library would like to thank the Andrews County Commissioners Court for the opportunity to participate in the University of North Texas PEARL project. Without their approval and support we would not be able to offer the new afterschool tutoring program described in our Outreach Plan. The Library Director would like to thank all the staff for their hard work, dedication, and support for this project.